San Francisco police open fire as car crashes into Chinese consulate

San Francisco police opened fire after a vehicle crashed into the Chinese consulate in the city, say officials.

At least one person was shot after the car drove through the consulate visa office and remained in the building, reported KTVU. The news channel says that a city source had told them that it was the driver who had been shot.

Witness Sergii Molchanov told The San Francisco Standard that the driver shouted “Where’s the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)?” as he got out of a blue Honda car.

Other witnesses told media outlets told KTVU that multiple gunshots had been fired in the Monday afternoon incident and that a bloodied man was loaded into an ambulance and driven from the scene.

The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that officers had been involved in a shooting incident at the consulate but did not say if it had resulted in a fatality.

The San Francisco Police Department advised people on social media to avoid the area.

The entrance to the visa office was covered in a white plastic sheet, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China is on a major street near the California city’s Japantown neighbourhood.

The incident took place a month before Chinese president Xi Jinping is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting in the city.